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5 Secrets for Stunning Creative Bird Photography

16 Apr

The post 5 Secrets for Stunning Creative Bird Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Do you want to capture stunning bird photography…

…that goes beyond the usual, standard bird photos?

You can!

In this article, I’ll give you 5 bird photography secrets that will ensure you consistently create incredible bird images.

Images that are creative, unique, and original.

Sound good?

Let’s dive right in!

1. Get Low for Gorgeous Bird Photography Backgrounds

Here’s the bread-and-butter of creative bird photography:

Get down low.

Really low.

It may seem tough. You might prefer to stay up high, away from the dirt and water and mud.

But if you want incredible bird photos, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone. You’ve got to get down low.

Specifically, you need to get on a level with the bird. Your lens should be about even with the bird’s eye.

Why is this so important?

When you shoot from down low, the distance between the bird and the background is greatly increased. And that causes the background to be far more blurred.

Therefore, you’ll capture some beautiful bokeh.

And beautiful bokeh?

Makes for a stunning bird photo.

This is how professionals capture such dreamy backdrops in their bird photography.

They get down as low as they can go. That’s all.

It really does make a huge difference!

Try it. I can guarantee that you won’t regret the resulting shots.

2. Shoot in water for stunning reflections

Do you want to capture especially gorgeous bird photography?

One of my favorite ways to do this…

…is to shoot reflections.

Let me explain:

A photo of a bird is nice. It’s standard. It can be beautiful.

But if you add a reflection, the image immediately becomes far more captivating. Viewers are instantly sucked into the scene.

The reflection adds a sense of subtle beauty and delicateness – one that you can’t get any other way.

Now, here’s how you capture gorgeous bird reflections:

First, shoot by still water.

Mudflats (with puddles) work well. Same with sheltered lakes.

If you’re struggling to find water still enough to generate full reflections, try shooting during the early morning. That’s when the wind tends to be a lot less noticeable.

Second, make sure the sun is low in the sky. (The lower, the better.) This will ensure that the reflection includes some nice colors.

You also have to be careful not to get too low over the water.

Why?

If you’re too low, the full reflection won’t come through. And a broken reflection has far less power than a full reflection.

Bottom line?

Find some birds near the water, and start taking photos!

3. Capture action for compelling bird photos

One of the biggest problems with beginning bird photography…

…is that it’s static.

The bird just stands in the frame.

And while there are methods of making this type of photo work, it’s often just a boring photo.

That’s why you should spice up your bird photos using action.

Once you’ve found a subject, watch it through your camera. Keep your finger on the shutter button.

Then, as soon as it starts to move, take a burst of photos. The more photos, the better!

Of course, you’re going to have a lot of failed shots. But you’ll also capture some keepers. And these will (with a little luck) blow you away!

Some of my favorite shots involve birds flapping their wings, preening, or feeding. If you wait for this behavior, you’ll get some stellar action shots.

One thing I’d recommend:

When you’re watching a bird through the camera viewfinder, keep some space between the bird and the edge of the frame.

Because birds can rapidly change their size – just by opening their wings. And clipped body parts are one of the easiest ways to ruin a bird photo.

Just remember these tips, and you’ll be capturing some great action photos in no time!

4. Shoot through vegetation for unique images

Another way to capture original images…

…is to find a subject.

Get down low.

And shoot through some vegetation.

This creates a gorgeous foreground wash – one that frames the subject without dominating the photo.

To pull this off, you generally have to lie flat on the ground. I advise experimenting with a few different angles – move around your subject, testing different possible foregrounds.

Note: It’s important that the vegetation is very close to your lens (and very far from your subject). Because the farther the vegetation is from your lens, the more in focus (and distracting) it becomes.

It’s also important to limit the amount of vegetation in the photo. You don’t want to cover up the bird entirely. Instead, you want to frame the bird with the vegetation.

Make sense?

Then start taking some shots with a foreground wash. You’ll love the shots you get.

5. Capture silhouettes for dramatic bird shots

Here’s one more way to capture creative bird photos:

Shoot silhouettes!

Silhouettes are really easy to pull off – and they look incredible.

Here’s how you do it:

Go out as the sun is just about to set. Find a subject (birds with a clear outline are best).

Then change your position so that the bird is between you and the setting sun. Ideally, the bird blocks the sun from your camera. This will prevent the sky from being completely blown out.

Make sure that the bird is in front of as much of the sky as possible.

That is, you want to frame the bird with sky – and you don’t want any dark patches behind the bird (from trees or other objects).

If you’re struggling with this, try getting down as low as you can. Because the lower you get, the more sky you’ll include in the frame.

Finally, ensure that you drastically underexpose your subject. One trick is to set the exposure based on the sky next to the bird.

That way, you’ll get a beautiful sky – with a nicely silhouetted subject.

Creative bird photography: next steps

Now you know how to capture stunning, original bird photos.

You know how to produce amazing backgrounds.

You know how to generate interest.

And you know how to capture incredible foregrounds.

The next step…

…is to get out and shoot!

Have any tips for creative bird photography? Share them in the comments!

The post 5 Secrets for Stunning Creative Bird Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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How to Photograph Against the Sun for Stunning Images

08 Apr

The post How to Photograph Against the Sun for Stunning Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

As a beginner in photography, you’ll likely be taught to keep the sun behind you. That’s because you’ll have several problems when you photograph against the sun. These problems are related. They’re an overblown sky, and a poorly lit main subject. That’s a recipe for a poor quality photo. As you learn how to better use the light, you’ll learn there are plenty of times you want the sun in front of you. In this article, you’ll learn all about the techniques needed to make stunning images when you photograph against the sun.

This photo is taken towards the sun not long after sunrise. The sun is lighting up the muhly grass through flare.

Flare

One of the effects you may well see when photographing against the sun is flare. This is sometimes described as the effect seen when a plant such as a reed is lit up by the sun shining on the plant. In the case of a reed, they have a delicate head in the summer which picks up the sunlight. As the head is delicate, it won’t block the sun completely, but is instead brighter and also not silhouetted. In photography, there are a couple of other effects caused by flare that can be used by photographers.

Flare effect on a camera

Unless your photographing a sunset or sunrise, directly pointing your camera at the sun is something you’ll want to avoid. Instead, aim to use an object within the frame to obscure the sun. Alternatively, you can aim towards the sun, but keep the sun just out of frame.

Doing this will result in two effects: You’ll see that your whole frame has a sunlight “glow,” or it’s highly likely you’ll also see a rainbow-like line that consists of arcs of light progressing across your frame. Both of these effects can be used to your advantage to create a more artistic-looking photo. Should you wish to avoid this altogether, using a lens hood helps. You might also try holding your hand above the lens to block sunlight shining onto the lens.

There is a glow to this image caused by flare. You can see this coming into the frame from the top left.

Starburst

The starburst effect is technically another aspect of lens flare. It’s a more desirable effect though, and you have more control over how this effect occurs.

To achieve a starburst effect:

Compose your photo, and aim towards the sun. The time of day isn’t that important, but it’s easier to control this effect during golden hour and into sunset or from sunrise.
You’ll want to obscure the majority of the sun, but allow just the edge of the sun to be shining through. Too little and the starburst won’t be noteworthy. Too much of the sun, and it will overpower your frame. Placing the sun behind the leaves of a tree is an ideal solution here.
This effect is caused by your lens diaphragm. The number of sunburst spikes is determined by the number of arms your lens diaphragm has. You get one spike per diaphragm. If your lens has an odd number, the number of spikes will be doubled. That means you’ll want to choose your lens accordingly.
This effect occurs when you close down the aperture of your lens. Apertures of f/11 and smaller should produce this effect.
Photographing into the sun is likely to mean your photo produces silhouettes. If you wish to see details in the foreground, you will need to overexpose. The overexposure could be +2 or +3 exposure value.
With a small aperture, and a high exposure value your shutter speed is likely to be low. Either use a tripod or compensate for this slow shutter speed by using a high ISO. The high ISO will increase the shutter speed. Choose a setting that allows you to take the photo handheld.

Closing down the aperture allowed the sun to appear as a starburst in this photo.

Silhouettes

When you photograph against the sun you’ve always got a good chance of producing silhouettes. Getting the best silhouettes takes a little more nuance though. You need to plan your photo and choose the best angle to take that photo from.

The first step is to decide which object you’ll silhouette. Is this a person, or an architectural structure? Perhaps it’s a lone tree in the field.
Which direction will you photograph this object from? Will you need to arrive in the morning or the evening so that the sun is behind this object when you photograph it?
Is there a clear line of sight to the horizon? Or is there a reflective surface behind the silhouette which can be used to photograph the silhouette against it? You’re looking for a bright background that you can silhouette the entire object against.
If you’re silhouetting the object against the sky only, you’ll often need to kneel down to an angle. Getting close to the ground and photographing up towards your silhouette, will mean more of the silhouette is visible. Where the horizon line intersects the silhouette, it will often make the lower half of the object not visible as a silhouette.
Look at the position of the sun in the sky. Is it too intense? Can you hide the sun behind an object? Is it possible to create a starburst effect from the sun?
Silhouettes are black, so of course, the silhouetted portion of your image will be underexposed. Typically, you’ll expose to get the sky correctly exposed within your photo. As the sky is very bright, the rest of your image will be dark and silhouetted.

This was an ideal place to take a silhouette. The person is silhouetted against the sky, and the reflective surface of the water.

Sunsets and sunrises

Of all the things photographers photograph, sunsets, and sunrises are surely the most popular. This time of day fascinates photographers of all levels, and you certainly don’t need to be a photographer to appreciate those colors in the sky. This time of day is also the best time to photograph against the sun. Especially while the sun is close to the horizon, as it won’t overpower your photo with too much light.

So what are you looking for to get the best result?

Know the angle – The sun changes position in the sky from winter to summer. Uses resources like suncalc to find out how a change of angle through the course of the year will affect your photo.
Check the weather – Overcast days won’t produce a sunset or sunrise! Always check the forecast and try and head out for optimum conditions. You’re not looking for a totally clear day either, 30-50% cloud coverage is nice.
Scout the location – Knowing a great location to visit on the day a good sunrise arrives is good. Knowing exactly where the best angle to photograph from within this location is even better.
Focal point – Unless the sky is truly epic for your sunset or sunrise, you’ll need a focal point to give your photo interest. A lone tree or building structure is often a great subject. Likewise, a river that gives a reflective surface, and perhaps a leading line will also work well.
Filters – Landscape photography where you photograph against the sun often need graduated neutral density filters. Be careful that the sun doe not produce unattractive and unwanted flare when you use these.
Post-processing – Post-processing can enhance your images. The use of techniques like digital blending, and graduated filters are important tools.

Sunset and sunrise are always captivating times to take photos against the sun.

Equipment

There are some useful pieces of equipment you can have when photographing against the sun. Depending on the type of photograph you take, you’ll need some or all of this:

Lens hood – This is needed to minimize or eliminate the effect of lens flare on your photo.
Filters – Using a circular polarizing filter is a good idea for photography in general. Photographing towards the sun means using graduated neutral density filters is also a good idea.
Strobes – Should you wish to light up a person or object, when you’re photographing against the sun, using strobes is necessary. Without these, you’ll have silhouetted people or objects. Should you wish to avoid this, additional light will be required.
Reflecting disc – This can be used to reflect and direct sunlight onto the person or object you’re photographing. They’re more often used for portraits, and can be used on their own or in conjunction with strobes.

In this photo, an external flash was used to light up the couple.

Digital blending

Digital blending is a post-processing technique that uses luminosity masks to control the light across your photo. This has led to an improvement in the quality of images produced by landscape photographers who photograph against the sun. This is a large topic, so to learn more you should read this article.

In order to get the best results from this technique, you’ll need a tripod and to bracket your images when you take a photo. You’ll then need to spend time learning how to blend so you can produce natural looking and professional results. Learning how to do this will significantly improve the final results of your photos. Keep in mind that there are occasions you won’t need to use this style, and using filters, or producing silhouettes is an alternative to this.

This image used digital blending. The rocks in the foreground were lightened, and the sky darkened.

Show some flare, photograph against the sun!

The sun provides photographers with their main source of light. Knowing how best to use it is vital for the best photos. In this article, you’ve learned how to photograph into the sunlight – a trickier proposition than photographing with the sun behind you.

Do you enjoy photographing towards the sun? Which techniques and ideas do you apply in your photography? Do you have example photos you can share with the community? At digital photography school we’d love to see your images both from the past, and perhaps your future images having read this article.

So now it’s time to get out into the sun, and photograph against the sun!

The post How to Photograph Against the Sun for Stunning Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Bond.

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Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash

02 Apr

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

1 - High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The making of one of my most successful shots started with a little photo play on a hot summer day, and a try at some high-speed splash photography.

The image above, “Red Bell Splashdown,” went on to win first place in the Corel International Food Photography Contest.

Let’s take a look at the “making of” methods used to create the shot so that you too can have fun with this quite simple technique.

Freezing motion

There are essentially two ways to freeze motion with a camera:

Use a Fast Shutter Speed such that the “sliver of time” you are capturing is very short and the object being captured moves very little, if at all, during the extremely short duration the shutter is open, or
Use the very Short Duration of a Flash so that the object you are photographing gets illuminated for a very small sliver of time. The duration time of an electronic flash can be extremely short. For example, a Speedlight like the Canon 580EXII at 1/128 power is less than 1/19,000th of a second!

I’ve used the flash method, and indeed it can produce some dramatic results. I will perhaps show that process and the results in a future article. For my splash photos, however, I wanted to keep it simple and do it outdoors where water splashes wouldn’t require any clean-up or endanger my photo gear. When I did these shots, I was using my Canon 50D which has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second. I figured this should be enough to get the job done.

2- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Let the sun shine in

Obviously, getting a proper exposure with a very high shutter speed would involve several possibilities:

Use a fast lens with a wide aperture – I was shooting with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, so a wide aperture was possible. However, I still needed a decent depth of field, so opening it up all the way wasn’t a good option.
Use a high ISO – Cranking up the ISO can aid in getting a fast shutter speed but at the penalty of more image noise. I didn’t want that if I could avoid it.
Shoot in very bright light. Normally, shooting under mid-day summer sun would not be something a photographer would do, but in this case, blazing sunlight (and lots of it) was the perfect solution.

3- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The set-up

I wanted to use colorful subjects for the shoot. Bell peppers – easily found at the supermarket in red, yellow and green – seemed a good choice. I also picked up some other colorful fruits – strawberries and limes. To accommodate the size of the objects and also give me a flat glass “window” to shoot through, a 10-gallon aquarium was just right.

Wanting to get light not just from above but from below as well, I put a large 5-in-1 reflector on the table where I wanted to shoot, silver side up. I placed the aquarium on top of that out in the bright noon sun. I filled the tank with water about halfway and allowed the bubbles to settle out while I set up the rest of the equipment.

4- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

I put a pepper in the water and let it float while I took a look through the camera to frame the shot. I could see I would need a plain and preferably dark background, so I put a piece of black paper behind the tank. The paper was still too bright with the direct sun on it, so I used another reflector, black side down, at the back to the tank to shade the paper backdrop. I had my camera on a tripod and moved it to get as much of the front of the tank in the frame as I could, being sure I could focus that close.

5- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

To be able to drop my subjects into the tank and also trigger the shutter, I rigged up a Youngnuo RF-602C radio trigger so that I’d be able to fire the camera remotely. A wired remote with a long enough cord could have also worked.

Camera settings

I put the camera in Manual Mode. To get a good combination of the fast shutter speed needed, decent depth of field, and not too high an ISO, I found that shooting at ISO 400, F/6.3 and the key – fast shutter speeds between 1/2000 and 1/3200th of a second was about right. Letting a pepper float in the tank where I anticipated it to be when dropped, I set the focus and then locked it in manual. I also put the shutter in high-speed continuous mode so for each drop I’d get a burst of about 5 shots.

6- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Splash-down!

So, good to go, I dropped the peppers, strawberries, and limes, trying to fire the bursts in synchronization with my drops. My wife Kathy came out to join in the fun and did some of the drops. We quickly found it was necessary to squeegee and wipe the front of the glass between shots to clean the drops off the front of the glass from the previous shot. So it went: drop, shoot, squeegee and repeat. For each drop, one frame of the 5-shot burst might be good, but often not. Timing is crucial. With practice, while we gained some skill, luck was still a huge element. There was lots of shooting to get the keepers. We tried it with the peppers and fruits in different combinations too. I easily made over 200 shots that afternoon.

7- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Cleaning up your act!

Straight out of the camera, the raw shots were less than impressive. Of course, Raw files look flat, and so I knew they’d improve greatly with a basic Raw edit. There were also more drops, splashes, bubbles and other particles in the water than I wanted. However, the important thing – the action – was properly frozen and sharp!

My Red Bell Splashdown image used settings of ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/3200th sec. The rest was using editing tools to adjust the exposure, get good rich color and deep blacks, and eliminate distractions. My editing tool of choice is usually Adobe Lightroom. With the Adjustment Brush and the Spot Removal Tool, I was able to clean up the image to create the impact I was after.

8- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Other considerations and possibilities

With any photo shoot, it’s always a good idea to critique your work and consider, “What might I have done better? Differently? What variations might I want to try?”

Seeing I had used a shutter speed of 1/3200th for my splash shots, I was curious how much difference there might be at the maximum shutter speed of my Canon 50D which is 1/8000th. I didn’t want to set up the fish tank and all of that for this second experiment, so I tried something simpler.

This time, I poured liquid into glasses in the bright summer sun. This process was simple enough. I clamped the glasses in a stand, put up a black backdrop behind them, set up the camera in a similar fashion to the previous splash shots, and did the pours. This time my settings were ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/8000th of a second.

When checking the shots afterward, it was apparent that the freezing effect was even more pronounced. However, at such a wide aperture, my depth of field was much more shallow.

9- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

What might I try next time?

I’d like to give different color backgrounds a try. Using black made editing much easier, and when cleaning up the shots, it was simple to “black out” any distracting elements. I’m not so sure that would be as easily achieved with a color background. Trying it with a white background for a high-key look might also look interesting.

10- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Of course, using different objects for the splash photos is also fun. In fact, we did do that when during the splash photo session my Mini-Schnauzer, Schatzi, wanted to play and decided to bring us her favorite ball. Looking at the “face” on the ball, I thought it might be fun to try it in a splash drop as we’d done with the peppers. When seeing the result – which looked like the “creature” was exhaling bubbles during a dive – it made me laugh.

11- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

So, give this high-speed shutter technique a try. Take it outside in the bright sun, crank up the shutter speed as high as you can and have some fun. It’s a great way to improve your camera skills, learn the relationships between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed, and then test your editing skills when tuning up your shots. I’m confident you’ll get some images of which you’ll be proud.

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Stunning Close-Up Photography

14 Mar

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Stunning Close-Up Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Do you want to take incredible close-up photos?

Here’s the truth: Capturing incredible close-up photos doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it can be extremely easy – if you know what to do.

In this article, you’ll discover the secrets to gorgeous close-up photography. You’ll learn about the required gear (Hint: You probably have everything you need!). You’ll learn the tips and tricks for stunning images (and you’ll love trick number 3).

Bottom line? I’ll make sure that you leave with the know-how to take truly beautiful close-up images.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Pick any camera and lens for close-up photography

First of all, the big question: Do you need expensive, specialized gear for close-up photography?

The short answer?

No.

You can capture incredible close-up images with almost any camera & lens combination.

Because here’s what you need for stunning close-up photography:

A camera (any modern DSLR or mirrorless camera will do just fine).

A lens that allows you to focus close to your subject (more on this in a moment).

That’s it.

You don’t need a tripod. You don’t need a focusing rail. You just need a camera and a lens.

Now: What counts as a close-focusing lens?

First, for a technical answer (that you’re free to ignore): I like lenses that give the subject a magnification of (at least) 0.20-0.25.

But here’s the thing:

Most lenses will actually get you pretty close to your subject – if you give them the opportunity.

So don’t worry too much about your lens choice. Just use what you have.

If you want to make sure you’re getting as close as possible, I recommend you test out a few of your lenses. Then pick the one that focuses closest.

Now, for a brief aside:

If you want to get especially close to your subject, then you can invest in a macro lens.

A macro lens isn’t necessary for close-up photography. But it does let you focus extremely close.

A great inexpensive option is the Tokina 100mm macro (for Nikon and for Canon).

Once you have a good close-up photography set-up, it’s time for the next step…

Step 2: Start with flowers for some stunning close-up photos

Close-up photography is thrilling.

And there are tons of subjects out there, just waiting to be photographed.

But if you’re a beginner, I recommend you start with one particular subject…

Flowers.

Flowers are easy to get ahold of. They’re not a super challenging subject. And you can capture some stunning close-up flower photos.

You can shoot flowers indoors or outside.

But I recommend you start outside.

This is for two reasons:

First: Natural light is stronger than artificial light. Which means you’ll be able to get brighter, colorful photos without much difficulty.

Second: Being out in nature is a great part of the close-up photography experience.

But, if it’s winter where you live? Don’t despair.

You can still take some great close-up photos of flowers.

Just buy a bouquet of flowers at your local supermarket.

Then you’ll be ready to do some close-up photography.

Is there a particular flower that you should start with?

I’d suggest you start with some bright, colorful flowers. I’d also suggest you start with flowers that are large.

Roses are a great choice.

Tulips are another option.

Once you have your flowers, it’s time for the next step…

Step 3: Find the best light for stunning close-up photography

You need to be careful about your lighting choices.

Because amazing close-up photography requires good light.

What do I mean by good light?

You want to portray the colors of your subject. And you want to portray some beautiful details (e.g., the curves of the flower petals).

This gives you a few lighting options:

First, you could use cloudy light.

Cloudy light is soft and diffused. This means that it will capture nice, saturated colors. You’ll also be able to portray some nice detail.

Just try to shoot toward the middle of the day. Otherwise, the sky might get too dark. And you need a lot of light for close-up photography.

Second, you could shoot on a sunny day. This will give you plenty of light for stunning close-up photography.

But be careful: The light on a sunny day can be very harsh.

So if you do choose to shoot on a sunny day, take photos in the early morning or late afternoon. That’s when the light is soft and golden.

(These times are often referred to as the “golden hours.”)

If you’re shooting inside, I’d recommend you go with the same set of options. Shoot on a cloudy afternoon or on a sunny morning/evening.

But make sure you place your subject near a window. Otherwise, you won’t have enough light to capture gorgeous details!

Step 4: Follow these close-up photography secrets to get amazing photos

You know how to select the perfect gear. You know how to find the best subjects. And you know how to choose the best light.

It’s time for you to actually take some close-up photos.

But how do you get the best photos possible?

Here are a few tricks you can use…

Shoot on a level with your subject for the most compelling photos

In close-up photography, it’s important you choose a great angle.

You want to portray your subject in a way that shows off its shapes and colors. And you want to take an intimate portrait – one that brings the viewer into the subject’s world.

That’s why I recommend that you shoot on a level with your subject.

What do I mean by this?

Simply position your camera so that it’s ‘eye-to-eye’ with your subject. You want to feel like you’re looking straight at the subject.

Only then should you take the shot.

You’ll probably have to crouch down low to capture this angle. You might even have to lie on the ground.

But…

…It’ll be worth it, in the end.

Shoot toward the sky for the best backgrounds

The best close-up photos have simple, uniform backgrounds.

Simple backgrounds don’t take away from the subject. Instead, they emphasize it.

So here’s a trick for some nice, simple backgrounds:

Get down low, so that you’re on the same level as your subject.

Look through your camera.

Then scoot around the subject, paying careful attention to the background.

Does the sky appear behind your subject?

If so, then that’s the photo you should take!

If not, you can try getting even lower. But don’t go too low – you want to remain as level with your subject as possible.

This works best on cloudy days. Your subject will have a nice, white background.

But you can use the sky as a background on sunny days, too. Just be careful not to shoot into the sun (because that will cause unwanted flare effects).

Use manual focus to portray the little details

Here’s your final close-up photography secret:

Use manual focus.

Why is this?

Manual focus allows for incredible precision when focusing.

And when you’re shooting at high magnifications, you need to focus as precisely as possible.

Here’s why:

In close-up photography, your depth of field is limited.

(The depth of field is the amount of the photo that’s actually in focus).

You can get the petal of a flower in focus, but then the stem will be blurry.

Or you can get the stem of the flower in focus, but then the stem will be blurry.

So you have to ask yourself:

What do I want to get in focus? What do I want to emphasize in this photo?

And then make sure you focus on that.

Unfortunately, lenses don’t autofocus well at high magnifications.

So you need to use manual focus, instead.

Start by switching your lens from autofocus (A, AF, or M/A) to manual focus (M or MF). There will be a switch on your lens body.

Then carefully roll the focusing ring between your fingers.

When focusing manually, don’t try to rush. Slow down. Glide from focus point to focus point.

You’ll quickly get the hang of it.

And you’ll be taking incredible close-up photos in no time!

Taking stunning close-up photos: The next step…

If you’re looking to take stunning close-up photos, I have good news for you:

You’re almost there.

You have the gear.

You have the knowledge.

You know how to find good light.

You know how to find strong backgrounds.

And you know how to focus carefully.

All that’s left…

…is to get out there and start shooting.

Do you have any close-up photos that you’re proud of?

Share them in the comments!

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Stunning Close-Up Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Photography Challenge – Stunning Smartphone Pics

25 Aug

You don’t need the latest greatest top of the line full frame DSLR to take good photos. But you do need to have a camera with you and to make use of good lighting and composition principles.

This week it’s time to practice your Smartphone photography and share your images with us for the weekly challenge. But let’s take it up a notch, shall we?

Image by Beth Ringsmuth Stolpan

The image above is a macro shot done with a Smartphone, read more on how to do that here: How to Get Stunning Macro Photos with Your Mobile Phone.

Need more ideas? How about these:

Tips for Better Smartphone Photography
9 More Great Apps You Need for Your Smartphone
8 Ways to Use Your Smartphone for Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – Stunning Smartphone Pics

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

The post Photography Challenge – Stunning Smartphone Pics appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images

06 Aug

Bokeh refers to the blur in the background of an image, and for photographers, stunning bokeh is like gold. We want it, struggle for it, need it. Yet how do you generate stunning bokeh consistently?

Fortunately, there a few simple ways to create high-quality background bokeh.

macro flower bokeh photography tulip - Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images

In this article, you’ll find four ways that will enhance your ability to produce pleasing bokeh, and therefore increase your photographic versatility and skill.

I’ll first discuss techniques such as increasing the subject to background distance and shooting wide opened. Then I’ll explain bokeh-enhancing situations such as backlighting. You’ll finish with the knowledge to creatively generate stunning bokeh in your own images.

macro flower bokeh photography aster - Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images

What is pleasing bokeh?

A quick word on great bokeh: In general, bokeh simply refers to the background blur generated by a lens. However, there are two types of bokeh that I’m going to focus on here.

The first is what I will call geometric bokeh. Geometric bokeh is out of focus highlights that actually take on a geometric shape. This particular shape depends on the nature of the lens, but circles, hexagons, heptagons, and octagons are all fairly common.

When properly utilized, this type of bokeh can add an impressive edge to your images.

macro flower bokeh photography aster geometric bokeh

The lights in the background of this image produce geometric bokeh.

I will refer to the second type of bokeh as creamy bokeh. This is the smooth, out-of-focus look that photographers often strive to achieve.

macro flower creamy bokeh photography daisy

This daisy image has very creamy bokeh.

Both types of bokeh can be generated, but require slightly different methods. Let’s take a look at each.

1. Shoot wide opened

This is really the bread and butter of creating stunning bokeh. Regardless of whether you want geometric or creamy bokeh, shooting wide open (that is, with an aperture in the f/1.2-2.8 range) will greatly increase your chances of achieving it.

I will focus on creamy bokeh here.

macro flower creamy bokeh photography tulip

A wide aperture assisted me in producing a really creamy bokeh background.

If you stop down your lens so that the depth of field is far less shallow, you’ll find that you lose the possibility of nice, creamy backgrounds.

This is because a larger depth of field means that the background is rendered less blurry. To generate the creamiest bokeh, you want to blur the background as much as possible. It’s as simple as that.

To generate better creamy bokeh, widen your aperture to decrease the depth of field. Only then will you start to achieve that beautiful, creamy look and stunning bokeh.

2. Maintain a good subject to background distance

Another essential aspect of producing pleasing bokeh is keeping a good distance between the subject and background. As in the first tip, this applies to both creamy and geometric bokeh, but I’m going to focus on creamy bokeh here.

When I talk about the subject to background distance, I’m referring to the distance between the elements of the photograph that are in focus—your subject—and the elements of the photograph that are out of focus, i.e. your background.

macro flower bokeh photography - Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images

Why does having a good distance between the subject and background enhance the quality of creamy bokeh?

It has to do with the depth of field. A greater distance between the subject and background means that the depth of field (the area that is sharp within the image) ends far before the background. The background is then rendered in the form of a lovely blur, rather than as a more in-focus mess.

So in order to increase the creaminess of the bokeh, increase the distance between your subject and your background.

3. Find bright highlights behind the subject

I’ve talked a bit about generating creamy bokeh, now it’s time to turn briefly to geometric bokeh.

Impressive geometric bokeh is created by highlights. One way to get strong geometric bokeh is to look for bright lights in the background.

macro flower bright geometric bokeh photography

The water behind this flower was reflecting the setting sun.

You can achieve this in a few ways. For instance, you might look for objects that filter sunlight, such as leaves. They break up the rays of the sun and turns them into small pinpricks of light that then become impressive geometric bokeh.

You can also look for elements that reflect light. Water is a great option. Another is water droplets. Areas that are wet with morning dew can generate beautiful bokeh when placed behind the subject.

macro flower bokeh photography dandelion - Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images

Third, you might search for small light sources in the background. Car lights, street lamps, or christmas lights all work well, especially when shooting after sunset.

Fourth, if you really want to create bokeh but are struggling to find the proper conditions, you can create them yourself. Bring a string of fairy lights with you when you’re shooting, and place them behind the subject.

I used fairy lights to create the geometric bokeh in this image.

Geometric bokeh is not all that common in photographs, but can be fairly easily produced. Just follow the tips discussed above!

4. Put the subject in the shade, with a bright background

This method of generating stunning bokeh is unique, in that it can produce amazing creamy bokeh when used one way, and amazing geometric bokeh when reversed.

Both ways involve making sure that your subject is in the shade. Both methods also involve having a bright background. Ideally, you should be shooting in the early morning or late evening when the sun is low in the sky.

macro leaf autumn bokeh photography

Where the techniques diverge is in the placement of the sun.

If you shoot with strong frontlighting—that is, if the sun comes from behind you, over your shoulder—position your subject so that beautiful golden light spills onto the background behind your subject (while your subject remains shaded).

Then that golden light will often render the background similarly golden, and you’ll find that your bokeh becomes wonderful and creamy.

macro flower bokeh photography cosmos

If you shoot with strong backlighting—that is, if the sun comes from behind your subject—position the subject so that the sun must go through trees, leaves, branches, or grasses. As mentioned above, this creates bright highlights behind the subject.

These are then blown into beautiful geometric bokeh.

macro flower bokeh photography

Feel free to experiment. Try to vary the amount of shade on your subject, moving from complete shade to direct backlighting.

This flower was more directly backlit.

Whether you choose to shoot with frontlighting or backlighting, by placing your subject in the shade and working during the “golden hours” of sunrise and sunset, you’ll generate beautiful bokeh.

Conclusion

While photographers often struggle to create beautiful bokeh, it doesn’t have to be hard. By shooting with a wide aperture, using a large subject to background distance, by positioning the subject so that bright highlights exist behind it, and by using special types of lighting, you can begin producing images with stunning bokeh.

macro flower bokeh photography hyacinth

Know other ways of generating great bokeh? Please share them and your bokeh images in the comment area below.

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5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

20 Apr

The holy grail of travel photography is a stunning photo looking into the vast distance taken at sunrise or sunset. It seems to just work as a blend of color, composition, and light to create something that often makes the viewer utter that famous word that any photographer wants to hear, “Wow!”.

But why is it then that so often when you look at your own sunrise or sunset photos they don’t look so stunning? Here are 5 reasons why your sunrise or sunset photos don’t live up to your expectations.

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning - sunset on the coast

#1 – What’s the point?

I remember a picture editor once told me, “This might sound controversial, but a sunrise or sunset is actually pretty boring.” What he was referring to was the lack of compelling subject matter in a photo of a sunrise or sunset like for example an empty beach with just the setting sun.

While sitting on a beach and seeing a sunset can seem like a wonderful experience, unfortunately, the camera cannot replicate that. Most successful photos of sunrises or sunsets have a point of interest in them, in that there is a subject that is the main story and the sunrise or sunset is providing the light and the atmosphere.

That story doesn’t necessarily have to be a person or an object in the frame. The story could be the beautiful scenery or the crashing waves against the coast. But the key point is that there is something that gets the viewers’ attention. So, don’t just rely on the sunrise or sunset, try to build your composition using it as an addition rather than the story.

boring sunset photo - 5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

This photo just isn’t very interesting. There’s a lack of interesting clouds or even water movement.

In this image, the big rock in the foreground, footsteps in the sand and the people all add interest and context to the photo.

#2 – Clouds or no clouds?

For example, one element that can dramatically improve your sunrise or sunset photos is some clouds. Take your generic empty beach scenario from above, but this time add some dramatic clouds that the light can bounce off and suddenly you’ll go from something mundane to something that looks fantastic.

The clouds here add drama to the scene.

Of course, you can’t control the elements and no clouds in the sky means, there’s nothing you can do. In that scenario, you just have to work harder to frame your shot and give the viewer a point of interest.

While you generally want some clouds in the sky, too much cloud cover and you will often find the light seems flat and dull and the whole photo looks uninteresting (unless the sun can set below the clouds and light them up from underneath). So, in conclusion, while you ideally want some clouds, it’s important not to have a completely overcast day. You can, of course, plan your shoots around times when you will have the best conditions.

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

#3 – Are your highlights and shadows correct?

One of the big challenges in photographing sunrise or sunsets is the vast contrast you get between highlights and shadows. Your highlights are the light areas of your photo (such as the sky for example) and your shadows are the dark areas in the photo (for example your foreground).

If either is pushed too far you will get completely white areas for highlights and completely black areas for shadows. This means that these areas contain no pixel details and is something you want to avoid.

The problem you face when photographing sunsets or sunrises is that your sky will be bright, and your foreground will be dark (a high dynamic range). The way that you can ensure that your highlights and shadows are exposed correctly in this scenario is to use a graduated neutral density filter to balance out the difference in the highlights and shadows.

There are also other techniques such as exposure bracketing as well that can help you achieve this in post-production and actually just brightening or darkening these areas in a software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. But whatever you decide, just make sure that your highlights and shadows are exposed correctly and fine-tune them if you need to in post-production.

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning - clipped shadow areas

The blue areas on this photo indicate where the shadows are being clipped (black with no detail).

Here the same image has been adjusted in post-processing to hold more detail in the shadow areas.

#4 – The image isn’t framed correctly

One of the key elements in ensuring the final photo looks great is to frame your composition correctly.

The easiest way to do this and a good starting point for any photographer is the famous Rule of Thirds where you try to place key points of interest on the intersection of the lines. But the Rule of Thirds is also worth remembering for your horizon line. Usually, you will find that placing the horizon either on the top third or the bottom third will look better than slap bang in the middle.

Horizon centrally framed.

Using the rule of thirds, the horizon here is on the lower third – off-center.

But try to consider the whole picture when framing your shot. Think if there are any areas that are just wasted space where you can crop in tighter. Or if your camera angle is slightly off and you can benefit by just moving a little to either side.

The beauty of photography these days is that you can usually take as many photos as it takes to get your shot framed right. So, play around with your composition and capture a few alternatives that you can then review later in post-production.

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning

Your camera may have the option to display the Rule of Thirds grid when you’re shooting or in image playback mode.

#5 – You haven’t fixed mistakes

Usually, the first bit of feedback that I often give newbie photographers when I look at their sunrise or sunset photos is on elements that could easily be fixed in post-production. Whether you are an advocate of post-production or not there are certain things that you simply should not forego on any photo.

The two biggest of these are:

Ensuring that your photos are straight, that means the horizon line needs to be dead straight.
Making sure you have the correct white balance for the photo (if you haven’t already done so when taking the photo). Think about the scene that you are showing, is it a warm and golden scenario or is it a cool and crisp setting? Either way, tweak your white balance until it is correct.

If you do nothing else in post-production, just making sure these two settings are correct will immediately improve your photos.

5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning - crooked horizon line

This image is clearly not straight as can be seen from the horizon line.

Here the image tilt has been corrected.

Conclusion

Sunsets and sunrises are wonderful times in the day to photograph things. The soft golden light can transform an ordinary scene into an extraordinary one. When done well, they are often the photos that will be the “show stoppers” in any portfolio.

But always remember that a sunset and sunrise needs to work in combination with your composition and subject matter to create a wonderful photo. Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to capturing great photos of sunrise and sunsets.

Now it’s your turn to get involved. Share your great sunrise and sunset photos below.

The post 5 Reasons Why Your Sunrise or Sunset Photos Don’t Look So Stunning appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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This stunning timelapse captured SpaceX’s glowing Falcon 9 launch

27 Dec

Last Friday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Airforce Base on the California coast. But the light show it created in the evening sky looked less like a rocket launch and more like an alien light show, stopping traffic on the highways as people pulled over to take cell phone pictures and video of what they thought might just be the beginning of an alien takeover.

Fortunately for all of us, it wasn’t just bystanders with smartphones who pointed their cameras skyward on Friday the 22nd, photographer Jesse Watson had already prepared to capture the launch, and came away with this stunning timelapse of the entire thing from Yuma, Arizona.

As he explains in the video’s description, this was actually the first rocket launch he’s captured:

I found out about this specific launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base a few days prior to the event. I wanted to capture this amazing spectacle in a fashion that I haven’t seen previously, as most of what I have seen is cell phones video or news reels.

[…]

I have never shot a rocket launch before, so I did not know exactly what to expect as far as exposure or precise location of the rocket in the horizon. I wanted to be prepared to capture comprehensive coverage of the spectacle. Therefore I packed four cameras and five lenses, to cover wide to telephoto details of the scene. Three of the cameras were rolling time-lapse and 1 was setup for telephoto video.

That’s how he captured the 40-second timelapse above: using two Nikon D810s, a Sony a7S II, and a Sony a6500 sporting a Nikon AF-S 14-24mm F2.8G, Sigma 85mm F1.4 |Art, Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 |Contemporary, and a Veydra Mini Prime 25mm T2.2 for Sony E-mount, respectively.

Check out the results for yourself up top, and then head over to the Vimeo page for a full gear list in the description.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Tips for Photographing Reflections to Create Stunning Images

10 Dec

It can’t be denied. There’s something special about reflections that makes them a unique aspect of photography. Maybe it’s because a reflection just like a photograph is a gateway to another world, parallel but restricted. Also just like photography, reflections are a simplification of our world; they turn a 3D reality into a 2D representation.

In a way, photography can make ”reality” and reflections more equal, by cramming the former into 2D while retaining the natural, 2D state of the latter.

01 reflections photography tips

Before we get into the exciting art of photographing reflections, let’s think a bit more about why they’re so attractive, and how we can find new ways to photograph them. Since you’re definitely going to have your own ideas about this mystery, I’d love it if you shared them in the comments below at the end of the article.

02 reflections photography tips

Why photograph reflections?

Reflections have always had an immediate attraction to me, and I don’t think I’m the only one. They’re like visual illusions dropped into everyday life. They turn the world upside down, add a hint of confusion to a scene, and show us things we can’t immediately see the source of.

For you as a photographer, reflections offer a way to create a certain atmosphere. It can be mystery and confusion, but also vastness, such as sky reflected in a lake, or calmness, as a reflection requires a relatively still surface.